


You've Got My Shell

by IBrokeThe4thWall



Series: Kid! April AU [1]
Category: Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (Cartoon 2018)
Genre: Adopted Sibling Relationship, Gen, Hugs, Sibling Bonding, Tumblr RP with tallgirl14, april is in middle school, kid! april AU
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-04
Updated: 2020-09-04
Packaged: 2021-03-07 00:07:47
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,408
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26287711
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/IBrokeThe4thWall/pseuds/IBrokeThe4thWall
Summary: The Turtle Fam is chilling in the Lair, enjoying each other's company while doing their own thing. April is struck by a random question and needs to know what the others think about it. Sibling bonding follows.
Series: Kid! April AU [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1910008
Comments: 5
Kudos: 84





	You've Got My Shell

The turtles were hanging out in the Lair with their best friend April O’Neil, middle-schooler, adoptive sister, and all-around awesome human. It was a quiet moment filled with chillaxing and parallel play. Raph was knitting, Mikey and Leo were playing Animal Crossing, April was reading fanfiction on her phone, and Donnie was surfing the Internet on his laptop. They were enjoying each other’s company while floating in their own little worlds. Sometime in middle of their peace, April was struck with a thought that she had to share with her brothers.

“Hey, guys,” she started curiously, “if you could only choose one of your brothers to back you up in a fight, who would you choose?”

“Leo.” Donnie immediately replied, not even bothering to look up from his laptop.

Shocked silence met his statement. Everyone was surprised by how quickly he responded and how _sure_ he sounded with his choice. The softshell turtle didn’t seem to notice until a few moments later when no one else answered to April’s question.

“What?” Donnie asked.

April cleared her throat. “Well, that was kind of a fast answer is all.”

“Really, Donnie?” Leo asked. “ _I'm_ your first pick? Why?” His tone sounded sarcastic, but his eyes looked confused more than anything.

“Why not?” Donnie countered, glancing at the red-eared slider. “You've always had my back in any situation, even when...” He ducked his head back down to stare at his computer, twisting his fingers around and quietly finishing his statement with, “Even when you had no reason to.”

Everyone was still being strangely quiet. Donnie peeked up from his web browser to see his siblings staring at him with teary eyes. What made it more awkward was the heartfelt smiles that could still be seen in spite of the classic sign of sadness. To be frank, the conflicting signals weirded Donnie out.

“Donnie, my brother,” Leo choked out dramatically, clutching at his plastron, “that's the nicest thing you’ve said to me all week.”

“No. No, no,” Donnie said. He fidgeted a little under his brother’s theatrical attention. “Don't do that. It’s weird! I’m the situationally dramatic one, you give the anime-style apologies, remember?”

“Donnie is having a moment, you guys!” Mikey announced while pulling Donnie into a big hug. “This is cryptid-level rare with how open he’s being. We have to be supportive!”

“Why are you like this?” Donnie groaned in defeat. He did put up a token struggle in Mikey’s hold, though. The box turtle technically wasn’t wrong, and his hugs were always appreciated. However, the softshell still had appearances to maintain. “I was just answering April's question. No big deal.”

“Yeah,” April nodded, “but it's _how_ you answered it, Donnie. I’d barely stopped talking before you said anything.”

“All I did was state the obvious,” Donnie huffed with an eye-roll as Mikey finally released him from the hug. Counting off his fingers, the soft-shell listed, “Leo is a skilled fighter, even if he is clumsy. He's quick on his feet and can think up of a plan on the spot. Now, whether or not it's a _good_ plan?” The soft-shell shrugged. “That's up for debate. On top of that, he—” Donnie paused when he saw how intently his brothers and April were staring at him.

“Hold on,” Leo sniffled, turning away to rub at his eyes. “I need a minute.” He was genuinely tearing up now. After taking a moment to compose himself, the slider could no longer fight the urge to glomp his twin. “I know you don’t like physical contact, brother, but it means a lot that you believe in me like that!”

“Do me next!” Mikey hollered.

“No,” Donnie said as he squirmed out of Leo’s grasp. Mikey’s hugs were always good, not to tight and not too loose, but Leo sometimes made his overly obnoxious and loud on purpose to annoy him. Immediate escape was his only option. “April said one brother. This has been way too much human contact for my liking as is, and I’m not risking it!”

“But we're turtles, not humans!” Raph countered and pulled Donnie in for a hug of his own.

The softshell turtle straight up _planked_ in his older brother’s hold, done with how his day was going. When Raph wanted a hug, there was no escape and no point in fighting it. Now, Donnie doesn’t dislike his big brother’s hugs; however, he did want it to end soon but knew that any escape attempt would prolong the snapping turtle’s hold on him. What was with his family today? He states facts all the time and shows off his reasoning skills every chance he gets, and his siblings have never responded like they were right now.

“It's just an expression, Raph,” Donnie sighed.

April smirked and tilted her head innocently, asking, “Is all this attention making you uncomfortable?”

“Yes, clearly,” Donnie snipped back. When Raph _finally_ released him, the soft-shell scooted to a safe distance and looked to the rest of his brothers. “Why don't one of you guys answer the question? April did ask all of us, right?” Maybe that would get the attention off of him for a while.

“Donnie, I pick Donnie!” Leo announced, waving his arms frantically. Or maybe it would pin their attention on him even longer. “He’s super smart and prepared for nearly any situation, even the oddly specific ones; he can hack his way into _anything_ ; his tech is amazing; and he’s my favorite theater kid.”

Donnie shook his head, and his annoyance was slowly replaced by fondness. Leo didn’t pay compliments to anyone lightly. It was obvious that Leo was thinking up of traits on the spot, but all his eagerness to share meant that he was genuine. On top of choosing Donnie as his back up in a fight, Leo also called him his “favorite” in front of their other siblings. An occurrence that hadn’t happened since they were little and made a warm feeling settle in his chest. Donnie’s thoughts were interrupted by Mikey humming in consideration.

“Hmm,” Mikey said slowly, “probably Raph.”

“Why?” April asked.

“I mean, Donnie and Leo have saved me more times than I can count,” Mikey said with a shrug, “but I really like sitting on Raph’s shell the most.”

“You like using me as a chair,” Raph deadpanned. “That's it?”

Donnie, Leo, and April stifled their laughter at the grin Mikey gave them. Mikey liked teasing his brothers by keeping his explanations simple at first before elaborating more on his feelings. However, Raph had no doubt hoped for something a little more heartfelt at the start, given the mood initially set by Donnie. Being a glorified chair in the middle of combat was probably not what the snapping turtle had in mind. Mikey clearly knew as much just by the way he was smirking at his irked eldest brother.

“Well, dear big brother,” Mikey drawled playfully. He tapped a finger to his chin in mock thought and grinned. “You are definitely the one I’d want backing me in a fight. You pack a mean punch, you’d never let me down, and you're also the most protective of the lot of us, too. So if I was in a lot of trouble, the bad guys wouldn't know what hit them.”

“You know it, baby brother!” Raph said, giving Mikey a noogie. “I think I'd want Mikey to have my back, too. This boy's unpredictable.” He let out a laugh. “You say _I_ can pack a punch? You can razzmatazz your way in and out of any situation; you take on anyone no matter how much bigger they are than you; and you don’t take any nonsense from anybody. You’re as determined as they come, Mikey.”

“Aw!” Mikey smiled up at his eldest brother.

“Okay, now that’s just cute,” Leo snickered.

“Totally,” April and Donnie agreed.

With April’s question finally answered in full and attention finally off of him, Donnie returned to surfing the web forums for tech enhancements he could utilize in SHELLDON’s next upgrade. Leo leaned against his battleshell while he tapped on his 3DS, Mikey helped Raph keep a ball of yarn from tangling up, and April lay sideways in a beanbag chair, returning to the fanfiction on her phone. Comfortable silence had returned to the room, and a deeper appreciation of each other settled between the four brothers.

“Hey, April?” Raph asked absently. “Who would you pick?”

“Splinter.”

Everyone laughed.

**Author's Note:**

> Hey, everybody! Thanks for reading. It is a lot of fun writing with tallgirl14 and led to stories like this and many others that I can't wait to share. There are a lot more coming your way, so just you wait!


End file.
